Pedestrians look at the holiday window at a store in New York on Thursday, December 2, 2021.
Christopher Ochikone | Bloomberg | Getty Images
The summer vacation season has just begun, but retailers are already preparing for their vacation.
In the coming weeks, businesses will get early clues as to how the most important holiday shopping season will be formed. Amazon Host Prime Day July 12th and 13th And rival retailers Target Hold competing sales. After that, the busy new semester shopping period continues. This is another indicator of how vacations are done.
Rob Garf, vice president and general manager of retail for software company Salesforce, said retailers tend to detect from next month how many people are willing to spend on vacation, and they want. It states that it may indicate the type of product. It also tracks retailer shopping trends.
Complicating sales forecasts for this holiday season is rising prices for gas, grocery and other household needs.
To predict how these factors influence shopping behavior, Salesforce made predictions for the next holiday season based on two reports. The Quarterly Shopping Index analyzes the online activity of more than 1 million people in dozens of countries, focusing on 12 major markets, including the United States. Other reports are consumer sentiment indexes based on a May survey of more than 3,000 people in nine countries.
According to a report released Tuesday, Salesforce’s three forecasts are:
Shoppers at King of Prasha Mall in King of Prasha, Pennsylvania, Saturday, December 4, 2021.
Hannah Bayer | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Christmas in July?
Expect the hiding place under the bed for holiday gifts to start early.
Last 2 years, People who started shopping before Black Friday were worried about shipping delays and shelf depletion. According to Salesforce, this year people are hoarding discounts and trying to beat the price increases.
42% of shoppers worldwide and 37% of US shoppers said they plan to start buying gifts sooner as a way to get better deals. This is the biggest inflation-related behavioral change that Salesforce has noticed in the survey.
For some, it could mean that Christmas shopping will begin in July, as people jump into transactions during Amazon Prime Day and competing sales. Target and gap Discounted items for unloading items Unnecessary inventory They stocked up during the pandemic.
Christmas Week shoppers pass a sign offering sales at the Montebello Shopping Mall in Montebello, California on December 22, 2016.
Frederick J. Brown | AFP | Getty Images
Price is better than everything
During the holiday season of the last two years, scooped shoppers jumped out of the sofa. Now they will be looking more closely at the price tag-and if they don’t like what they see, go elsewhere.
According to Garf, value is expected to outweigh loyalty and convenience in this holiday shopping.
According to Salesforce, half of shoppers are expected to switch brands to save money. This means that 2.5 billion shoppers around the world may choose the right product for their budget.
Garf said retailers need to create a buzz by offering exclusive or limited-quantity products, or recreate trendy features such as product sustainability, to eliminate the need to compete solely for low prices. Said there is.
Otherwise, he said retailers’ profits could be hit hard if they discounted too quickly and too often. Already, he said their profits are being squeezed by higher costs for fuel, labor and other items.
NFT advertising at the CoinDesk 2022 Consensus Festival in Austin, Texas, USA on Thursday, June 9, 2022. The festival will showcase all aspects of the blockchain, crypto, NFT, and Web3 ecosystems and their widespread impact on commerce. , Culture, and community.
Jordan Fondahar | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Dear Santa, I want an NFT
One of the hot gift items for this holiday season shouldn’t be under stockings or the Christmas tree.
Non-substitutable token, Or its own digital assets stored using blockchain technology, will be on the list of more people this year, according to Salesforce. Forty-six percent of shoppers said they would consider giving Salesforce a virtual version of a physical item or digital collection.
According to Salesforce, about 500,000 NFTs will be purchased from retailers between November and December, with a total market value of $ 54 million. NFTs have become more popular in recent years, Some experts are still skeptical They are a good investment.
Still, Garf compared NFTs to the popularity of savings bonds in the 1980s, and people issued bonds with the intention of increasing their value over the years. Think of NFTs as that high-tech spin, he said.
